New proposals for Braehead site

Sandlaw Farming Company has released plans this week which they say will help the council meet an unfulfilled demand for new housing choices in Banchory.

The new plans have been released only months after the initial application was rejected by the council.

The proposals, which are for 300 rented homes at Braehead, are proving just as controversial as the original application.

Mike Adams, spokesman for the local Stop Scolty Redevelopment group, this week said: “What we have found over the past two years fighting Sandlaw’s plans are the reoccurring themes of false and misleading statements.

“In the current case, Sandlaw is using population and house building projections to try and justify a break from the Local Development Plan.

“However both of these arguments have been widely refuted by Council, the Planning Dept. and the SDPA.”

Ken Ross, Development Consultant to Sandlaw Farming said: “We‘re offering the new administration at Aberdeenshire Council a unique opportunity to house 300 young families, key workers and older people unable to down-size at present.

‘We have the finance in place for 75 affordable homes, 25 assisted-living apartments and 200 homes for private rent and we could have all these built and occupied within two years of planning approval - We don’t need a penny of public money.

“The number of homes being built, or likely to be built under current Development Plans, is falling far short of what has been planned for.

“If the Council genuinely wishes to meet its housing obligations, it needs to be more flexible and consider options that don’t fit a formulaic approach to delivering new homes”.